r/banddirector

Kid has real potential and excellent focus when drumming. Parents won’t get him lessons. What’s something I can gift that will motivate him?

Hey yall, middle school band director.

First year at a school that is very challenging. Everyone in the front office left, and is leaving. No lie, everyone.

Pros of this year: spent 40k of prop 28 to start a program from almost scratch. Music wasn’t around for 5 years.

What I’m worried about: a whole new office team including Principal and AP.

My school has been bad and almost no accountability for the kids. I think it’s already the worst it could be. I want to ask veterans if it’s about to get worse or are we at the getting better stage 😂

There's a job that opened up that I'm interested in, but apparently the head director is a pain to work with. You look at the staff that has come in gone over the last few years and it's been quite a bit.

I was a HS director for years before my job was cut, and now I am at the elementary level. I was lucky to work with people who I got along with and we were watching for each other's success. However, from the info I'm gathering about this program and the head director it seems like it could be an irritating place to be. Everyone says this director does not like his assistants to be successful because apparently he feels he is not. Also the community does not like him very well.

Has anyone walked into a position like this? Is it worth it in the end?

I'm at a point where if I'm going to do these long hours, I don't want to hate working for a guy that can make things miserable. I feel I value my time too much to let that happen these days.

As I sit and grade the written final exam, I'm wondering how so many students got this far in the year without, for example, being able to put dynamics in order from loudest to quietest (even though we very frequently discussed and performed these dynamics), or can't correctly label articulations and other symbols found throughout their music, or even be able to name notes on a staff or write rhythm counts accurately, even though it was part of our classroom routine.

My solution for next year is to assign worksheets more regularly as homework so that I can catch these students early and help them figure out what they need to know, but in almost 15 years of teaching band, I've never given out worksheets. So, I'm asking here if anyone has advice (or wants to advise against this idea) on how to make homework meaningful and not let it consume too much time for either myself or the students.

Middle school band directors - how do you cope with a poor high school program? How do you cope with them blaming you for the failure of the HS program?

Most kids here join band in 4th grade. I have the kids from 6th-9th grade. My numbers are great - I have a ton of kids wanting to join and rarely have kids drop out of the program. We have three concert bands at the Middle school because of the quantity of students. We also have a jazz band and a chamber club. We play some really solid stuff and kid's individual progress grows a ton in our group lessons. I try my best to ensure I'm sending up quality musicians, not just quantity.

Our high school program is struggling. As hard as I try to grow the program as a "feeder", the HS still loses SO many of the students after their first year at the high school. I understand kids will naturally drop out over time, but the rate of them leaving is so high. Some of my extremely motivated kids (took private lessons, actually practiced, took on playing opportunities outside of school) are dropping out too.

The band plays the same grade tunes as we do in my best middle school band. I've had parents and students reach out to me about the state of things up there. The marching program is even worse. The football staff doesn't even let them play pep tunes, SSB, or the alma mater anymore because it's so bad. They just play recordings on the speakers. They get their pregame show and that's it.

The HS band director keeps asking me to recruit recruit recruit. That my "feeder program" isn't feeding and playing it's role in the school band system. I also have admin breathing down my neck because for some reason they're starting to see me as the problem. They've insinuated that the issues up there are my fault because I'm not sending up talented enough musicians.

I feel I have no control over the situation and have no idea what to do.

I am currently an Elementary Music Teacher. Before coming down to Elementary, I was a Band Director for 10 years. The only reason I am in Elementary is because my job was cut last year and I had to take something to be employed. Unfortunately there were very few band openings last year.

I have put in a number of applications for band director positions in my area, and have had no luck with landing an interview. My resume has great results and achievements, and I know a lot of people... I just haven't had luck landing an interview for whatever reason.

I'm currently in a district that is failing, with schools and programs being cut left to right. It's the same district I have been in my whole career. The pay is great... that's the only good thing. The atmosphere is toxic almost in any school you walk into.

There is a district that is far better and more supportive, and one I would like to very much be part of if ever given the opportunity. In fact, this is where I put a majority of applications into for band directoring. They had a few elementary music jobs open up and I am considering applying. The schools are in better areas and it's a little closer to my house.

I'm feeling that I might not be able to land a band job again this year. I feel if I could make my way into this district, I might have the opportunity to move into a band position I desire at some point.

My other option would be to stick things out where I'm at, and hopefully leave when I want if I can land a band job. Since I'm not resigning a contract, I could take a vertical move at any point of the school year. Taking a new elementary job in a new school district would not allow me to do that.

What would you do in my situation?

I love the BandApp because it’s so easy for me to make announcements to my students and their parents, but they have no boundaries when it comes to messaging me. Parents message me at all hours with topics that I do not feel like should be discussed over the messaging system (they ask about their kids’ behavior in class but I think this should be discussed via email with our AP cc’d). I also got about 10 messages the day of our spring concert asking when it is, even though I posted several announcements throughout the week.

My main concern is that sometimes my students will message me with things completely unrelated to band. They tell me how their weekend is going or just say hi. I care for my students but don’t like responding to these messages because it feels inappropriate for students and teachers to “text” outside of school. I hate to ignore them because it feels mean.

I’m in my first year of teaching so this is my first time for everything. Next year, is there a good way to establish boundaries with my students and parents? Does anyone just turn off the message feature all together? I feel way too accessible and I hate it.

How could that title possibly be related to band? Well, my band room now has German roaches….. I saw some crawl out of a case on Friday and found out no one has sprayed or treated my room yet. This morning I had them crawling on my band room door and all over tables. I can’t do this. What am I supposed to actually do? There’s no food in this room. Can they get inside the instrument cases? How do I safely treat the cases?

Hi I’m having a hard time trying to find an example of each for an assignment. It says “a solo piano or solo guitar can play multiple voices so these will not count as monophonic. I found someone saying “I will always love you” by Whitney Houston but I don’t think I can use it because of the piano…?

I just have to type this out so nobody forgets when adding up all those to go after.

The movie whiplash demonstrated the muscular fit director in middle school as the bad guy when in fact he was probably one of the few nice and kind ones.

The ones that really encouraged injury was during freshman or sophomore year of high school. They were both grotesque out of shape , Steve Brown and Mike Myers. They picked fun at me by incorporating a whole routine with a hip shaking dance.

Then to continue the sexual torment they decided during practice to do a spur of the moment gaint steps backwards routine in which the people in front of me ran into me (since my trombone was representative of a penis) and it chipped my front tooth. The director even hide the obvious fact of what he had done by acting like this was a normal routine, even tv programs nowadays try to show outlandish running with instruments to justify this crime.

Not only that the police in later years then decided that they wanted to somehow take the crime off of lewisville independent school district and put it on all on them. During an arrest they beat me up and knocked out another tooth along with the front one.

I don't know what kind of fool they think I am but I am now going to bring this as a federal offense against multiple agencies of the state if texas. I sure as hell am not going to have my son subjected to attempts of renacting bad events and they messed with the wrong Dad this time!

Hello, I am hoping someone may be able to point me in the right direction on how to solve an issue. I have a set of Majestic Timpani and all four of them are not working right. When I move the foot pedal the needle on the side dial barely moves and the pedal rebounds a lot in the toe down position. I've tried looking it up on YouTube and checked the foundation pitch, everything seems fine but I cannot figure out what to do or try next.

Any suggestions or guidance is greatly appreciated.

Hello!

TL;DR - what procedures do you implement or use to help kids actually show up on time and ready for class, and to follow directions the first time they're given.

Context: I teach in Japan, so we start school in April. So we are about a month into the year, and have not learned a song yet. It's not beginning band, so the students can play (mostly). But they lack fundamentals like posture, breathing, etc.

I am having some issues with my current 7th graders and looking for possible solutions. The main issues are fundamental behavior problems, none of them musical, but because of them we can't get anything done. Part of it is the sheer number of students doing these things. The class is 43 kids. Is say about 10-15 of them fall into this category.

Some examples of things that have happened.

1. Class starts, I say "hold up your pencil" and 15 or so students hold up nothing. We then wait for them to go get their stuff. Then I ask "ok hold up your music book" and the same thing repeats itself. This wasted almost half the class. What they need for class never changes AND it's always written on the board. Yet every single class students don't have what they need.

2. At the start of class there is a timer on the board and students are expected to be set up and ready by the time it ends. There's always students talking and playing up until the timer goes off at which point they come to their seats, again we all have to wait for these students.

3. I've had multiple instances of students shouting out a question while I'm teaching and then saying "thank you" and just going to do what they asked before I even answer. Every time this happens I make them sit back down and call them out for being disrespectful.

4. Just general small things, when I ask students to stand up, a group doesn't, when I ask students to sing, they don't, when I ask them to play, they don't, when I ask them to breathe etc.

The expectations are clear, I know this because there's also an equally large group (larger even) of students who are in their seat completely ready before the bell even rings. I give them 5 minutes from when the bell rings to be ready with all of their things.

Every year I always struggle at the start of the year, getting everyone to do things. The kids typically think they can get away with doing nothing. But in years past by this point in the year students finally get it and stop trying to do nothing. I understand it takes time for them to understand my expectations, but it's never taken this long. Usually within a few weeks of constant reminders they understand that they need to be silent when we make music, and need to be ready, and follow directions the first time.

Do you have any advice. In the past I have not had this much of a problem. This group (I've heard from other teachers) needs extra help and individual support it seems so any strategies you have used please share! I want to give them the education they deserve.

Hey Y'all! I have a smaller kiddo who will be learning the quints (tenor drums, quads, whatever you want to call them - my students have always said quints since before I got there). The student is so excited, and super capable, so I want to give them some advice to make her successful. She is a very small kid, probably 5' 2" and 80-90 lbs and we have Yamaha Field Corps Tenor Drums (8400, I think) with Randall May Harnesses. She is an incredibly dedicated kid, lifts weights, and is athletic, but I still worry about the heavy weight of the drums. Any ideas on how to help her build up the back strength, how to handle the drums, or harness adjustments? Is there anything else I should do to help her be successful? I am not able to get any other drums, and this is the best kid to put on the Tenors, so I just want advice on how to help her be successful! We do have back braces, but the kids rarely use them (so I may encourage that more heavily next year for everyone), but I am not sure whate else to do. Thank you!!

Hello! I’m currently a junior in high school, but I’m interested going into the music education field, specifically with an instrumental focus, and was wondering how teaching in big cities is? I’m from a small PA town so I’m used to how programs run in this setting, but I’m interested in teaching in a city like NYC or Philly.

I’m also wondering how marching bands and indoor groups are done in the city, as well. Literally any tips help, I’m just curious and trying to think ahead in life lol. Thank you!

Composer here, mostly coming from an orchestral/chamber background, only recently starting to write for concert band.  I'm considering putting together recordings of individual parts (just MIDI at this point) for recently completed pieces of mine. I know some publishers have done this sort of thing before, but I'm not sure how much directors and students actually find them useful vs. just ignoring them.

So...do these practice recordings get used? If so, are they more helpful at certain levels (middle school vs. high school vs. college)? Are there formats or features that make them more or less useful (play-along vs. isolated part, slower tempo, etc.)? Any strong opinions either way?

Appreciate any insight. Happy to learn more about how things actually work in the band world.

So, I know this is not an orchestra thread, but as a former band hall rat who just survived year 1 of teaching orchestra (first job that opened up to me), I’m in the process of shutting it down for the year. I was wondering what all I need to be looking for when it comes to instrument repairs (how to find open seams, cracks in instruments to flag them for repair. That sort of thing) and resources on this.

Hello!

I recently came across a piece by Robert Sheldon called "Glorious revolution" it seems epic and great. I've always wanted to do a combined piece with all three of the bands we have across our campuses. This piece seems to have parts at three different grade levels, 4, 2.5 and 1. Which is great.

I want to keep looking though before deciding, do you know any other pieces like this? I know standridge has one but it's Christmas themed and unfortunately our concert is not that time of year. Something fun that isn't specific to a season or anything.

Thanks so much!

Hi all, I’m looking for composers looking to partner on some shows. I am looking to expand the business and building a portfolio.
Soon to come is a website and personal out reach to market these shows

We do not deal with any music rights, so arrangements are public domain and original compositions

If you are:
-A wind and brass composer
-A front ensemble composer
Id love to talk with you!

- we don’t need a battery only writer

We are currently just using musescore.
You’ll need to be able to write with partners.
You’ll need be responsible for making the sheet music nice and presentable at the end, but I can show you how to do that in a very easy way.

Ps. I have shows already written and am open for custom arrangements.
If you want samples as a writer looking for a partner, or a director dm me and I can send samples.